Do Opposites Really Attract?

There’s an old expression that in relationships, opposites attract. That belief could have been borne out of the need for complimentary skill sets, enabling the people in the relationship to balance each other. This naturally also would lead to a better division of labor and handling of responsibilities.

Among those who study such things, there have been studies both for and against the notion that opposites attract. In one study, the author suggested it really didn’t matter much.

But what does the general public think. Do you think that opposites attract?

If you are think like the majority of the people we asked, then yes, opposites do attract. According to our study, 63% of adult Americans said that, when it comes to relationships, yes, opposite do attract.

Gender didn’t make much difference – both men and women felt the same about this issue. As the table below shows, there was no real different between the sexes on this topic.

Gender

Male

Female

Yes

63%

64%

No

37%

36%

Perhaps more interesting, age didn’t seem to play a big role here either. As the table below shows, the belief that opposites attract holds fairly steady across age ranges. The notion that opposites attract seems to be a little more common among those aged 55 to 64, and drops among those older. But overall, there wasn’t much variation by age.

Age

18 to 24

25 to 34

35 to 44

45 to 54

55 to 64

65 to 74

Yes

67%

61%

64%

66%

74%

57%

No

33%

39%

36%

34%

26%

43%

And there you have it folks – if you think opposites attract, you are surely not alone!

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We are an on going survey of the human condition. If you want to know what people think, like or don't like, buy, spend money on or just do on the weekends - you've come to the right place. Can't find an answer to a social, behavioral, belief or market question on this site? No problem - send in your question and we'll do our best to answer it for you.